Priests will to go to jail rather than break the seal of the confessionalSay seal of confession means they cannot disclose wrongdoingsBy CATHY HAYES,IrishCentral Staff Writer

A founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests has said he would he would rather choose to serve time in prison rather than break the seal of confession.

In the wake of the Cloyne report the Irish government stated that priests who fail to report child abuse disclosed to them during confession, to the relevant authorities could face up to five years in prison...

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Men may dislike truth, men may find truth offensive and inconvenient, men may persecute the truth, subvert it, try by law to suppress it. But to maintain that men have the final power over truth is blasphemy, and the last delusion. Truth lives forever, men do not.-- Gustave Flaubert

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity

The justice system has other means of getting prosecutions, surely, than investigating what was said to priests, especially since an oral confession heard years ago is on pretty soggy ground for admissibility, or so it seems to me.

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Quote from: GabrieltheCelt

If you spend long enough on this forum, you'll come away with all sorts of weird, untrue ideas of Orthodox Christianity.

Quote from: orthonorm

I would suggest most persons in general avoid any question beginning with why.

Just out of curiosity, do Eastern Orthodox priests hold themselves to the same standard, I.e. the seal of the confessional? Or would they report a confession of crime to the police?

There is, as I understand it, a variance of opinion here. However, an Orthodox priest is not required to give absolution when he hears a confession. He may withhold it until such time as the penitent turns himself in to the police. Orthodox confession is also not anonymous or necessarily formulaic. There is time for counsel and conversation. The priest has to answer to God as a witness for the penitent's repentance, and this, I think, would include how the penitent made things right with those he offended--victims, society, etc.

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Quote from: GabrieltheCelt

If you spend long enough on this forum, you'll come away with all sorts of weird, untrue ideas of Orthodox Christianity.

Quote from: orthonorm

I would suggest most persons in general avoid any question beginning with why.

Nothing told to Christ in Confession and witnessed by me can be divulged. Full stop.

However, there is always the counseling after the confession. Yes, if/when criminal activity is confessed, I do my best to reinforce to the penitent the importance of being repentant, part of which is setting the record straight.

Yes, I've driven children to stores to apologize to the store owner for stealing something, but it's the child who does all the talking; I say nothing.

If a person confesses something criminal to me that would be such as murder, child molestation, etc I would do all I could to help the penitent go to the legal authorities and help the victim or family have peace of mind. Thank God nothing like that has occurred yet....I have enough trouble with 'incense getting in my eyes' when hearing the pain caused to my parishioners from "every day" sins, and nothing as demonic as violent crime.